Just days after Biden’s victory, the drug company Pfizer announced success among early tests of their Covid-19 vaccine which suggests an effectiveness of 90%. This news offers a promising future as cases in the US skyrocket to 10.2 million.
The company released few details after its clinical trial was reviewed, but made the claim that the vaccine was in fact 90% effective. If the results hold, the vaccine will be on par with the current effectiveness of the popular measles vaccine that is used to prevent the common childhood virus. The company also made it clear that there were no serious safety concerns that were revealed throughout their trials.
Pfizer is expected to request the FDA for an emergency authorization of the two dose vaccine in the upcoming weeks. However, Alex Azar from the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary said it would take multiple weeks for U.S. regulators to process the received data before a potential approval, leaving the vaccine to possibly be available in the beginning months of 2021. By the end of 2020, Pfizer is expected to have produced 15-20 million doses which would cause massive steps to control the pandemic that has taken the lives of 1.2 million people globally.
Critics like Jesse Goodman, a professor of medicine and infectious diseases at Georgetown has stated that, “We need to see the actual data, and we’re going to need longer-term results,” however continued to congratulate the hard work of the scientists working on the task force, pushing the idea that this vaccine could be a huge step in the fight against the pandemic.
Additionally, even before the trials began, the Trump administration announced its advance purchase deal on July 22, placing early bets of Pfizer’s success. This was the largest such commitment from the U.S. government regarding the Covid-19 pandemic especially after their slow response and lack of in initiative regarding the rise in cases. This commitment was still followed by baseless claims from President Trump that the vaccine makers were being controlled by politics and that after November 3rd the pandemic would be over. Trump had continuously reported that vaccines would be ready by the end of the year, however this still seems to be a loose promise. President elect Joe Biden also released a statement saying that masks and social distancing precautions should still be followed until mass distributions have occurred which aligns with his past promises to control the pandemic once elected. Still, there is hope that the Pfizer vaccine will push the world closer to control over the pandemic as 2021 approaches regardless of political drama.
Questions to Ponder:
- Do you think it is suspicious that the vaccine announcement comes just days after Biden's victory?
- Do you think that Americans will be proactive in the attempts to push out a vaccine?
Links:
https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-vaccines-pfizer/pfizer-vaccine-trial-success-signals-breakthrough-in-pandemic-battle-idUSKBN27P1ID
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/09/health/covid-vaccine-pfizer.html
https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2020/11/09/pfizer-coronavirus-vaccine-90-effective-sanjay-gupta-newday-vpx.cnn
14 comments:
The announcement of this vaccine is really exciting news!
It is interesting to me that many disbelieved Trump's claims that a COVID-19 vaccine would be available before the election, and yet this Pfizer vaccine has appeared just a couple of days after the 3rd. It makes me wonder how the election would've turnout had this potential vaccine been revealed even just a week earlier. I'm not sure if it would've really had an impact on the election as many of the votes that decided the election were Democrat mail-in-ballots that had been sent prior to the date, but its still interesting to consider as some believe that without the destruction this virus brought, Trump would've been reelected.
While exciting, I also believe we half to be a little bit wary before we get comfortable with the idea of the "end" of COVID-19. Just a couple of months ago, many were concerned that the Trump administration's economic investment in companies such as Pfizer could cause issues in the reliability of any vaccine a company may produce as there seems to be a political pressure on them. However, the fact that the election has already passed and this news will (most likely?) not have any effect on the next election steps, I think we are able to trust the Pfizer's main goal is protecting people from COVID rather than a powerful economic reward.
Like Claire said, this announcement is really exciting to hear! I do think Americans will be proactive to push this vaccine out. A lot of us have been quarantining in some sort of way since March, and hearing news of this magnitude 8 months later is pretty uplifting. A lot of people are itching to "return to normalcy," and with this vaccination it is possible that people will get re-employed if they lost their jobs due to the pandemic. Unfortunately, this vaccine is slightly difficult to administer in the technical sense (must be stored below -70 degrees Celsius), and people must take it twice within a pretty specific time period. Manufacturing and transporting large amounts of this vaccine will be costly, and it only seems likely that front-line workers will be vaccinated in the near future. I do hope that the rest of us will begin getting vaccinated in early 2021, though!
While it is definitely exciting that there are successes in the development of a vaccine for COVID-19, it is important to note that this specific vaccine is still in clinical development. It must pass through the FDA, which has high standards for the efficacy and safety of drugs that are being developed, and while we are able to use many drugs to treat illnesses, those that are allowed for use in humans by the FDA make up a small minority of drugs that companies work to develop. Most drugs fail to receive FDA approval due to the existence of more effective drugs, or they do not meet safety standards. Furthermore, this trial does not yet account for the long-term effects of the vaccine, and it is important to better understand how it may impact patients in the future in order to make an informed decision on safety. As such, it seems that many people are becoming more excited about the vaccine candidate than they should be in reality. There are no guarantees that this vaccine will be able to be distributed amongst the public.
I think is definitely some good news for the whole pandemic. Although it is something that we should celebrate, I think that there are still some concerns and holdbacks right now. As Ian has said, the vaccine is still in clinical development and it is only possible to use if it passes FDA requirements. Many vaccines are the product of countless trials and failures until the final usable product is distributed to the public. Everyone is so fed up with these new safety precautions and hoping to go back to normal as soon as possible. Despite all of these wishes for the return to our old living styles, there is still a long way for the vaccine to be safely used.
-Rachel Ng
Trump's claims that the vaccine results were withheld until after the election to undermine his chance at reelection were fact checked and proven to be false.
“We are at this 24/7, thousands of people working diligently to make this work. And for us, it was never about politics, it was always about just the disaster that we were in the middle of, all of us globally, seeing the devastation and the deaths," said Kathrin Jansen, who heads vaccine research and development at Pfizer, to ScienceInsider.
Making vaccine development and COVID-19 policy as a whole a political discussion diminishes the tragedy the virus has brought on the nation and on the world. Trump's many lies spewed about masks not working and the virus's quick disappearance (see "It's going to disappear. One day it's like a miracle, it will disappear," Feb. 27, and everything will be normal by Easter, paraphrased, March) allowed him to continue spreading misinformation to his followers while practicing avoidance of his issues. Instead of working with health officials (qualified health officials) to find a national solution (wearing masks, encouraging social distancing, dispelling misinformation) to the pandemic, Trump began pushing a vaccine, which, as Ian said, takes a while to approve. Thinking so far out Trump harmed so many as cases rose steadily through July and August, and are continuing to do now. We are reaching record high case numbers per day without promise of a vaccine in the near future, but instead of focusing on what can be done now to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, Trump is deferring blame to already rushed vaccine development that didn't release information on a timeline that benefitted him (not that he can or should take any credit for the vaccine development, except for some funding, I guess).
This vaccine is excellent news! A 90% effectiveness rate is really above everyone's expectations. The measles vaccine has the same effectiveness rate and before the vaccine everyone is the US was expected to get the virus before the age of 15 and now, after the vaccine it is incredibly rare with less than a 1,000 cases per year.
However, it is important to note that someone who has measles have lifelong immunity which is already proven to not be the case of the coronavirus since there have already been people who have caught it twice. This happens because of the very high mutability rate of the disease. Therefore it is likely that we will need to have coronavirus vaccines multiple times.
This discovery is only the first in several steps, first the vaccine needs to be approved and the safety guaranteed, there will also need to have the production of vaccines for all of the 300 million inhabitants in the US, and the fact that it is a two dose vaccine means that we need twice as much production rates. We also need mass distribution throughout the country. Therefore it will still take months before this vaccine actually comes to the country's rescue. That is why we cannot yet relax on restriction and prevention measures to help keep everyone safe and diminish such a large spike in cases.
I am excited for the new vaccine. It was a bit surprising to see, especially so close to the election, but I don't think it was necessarily suspicious that it came out that day. I was honestly surprised that it came out so soon. I thought the vaccine was going to come in January because the Trump administration constantly has given underestimations of the amount of time it takes to make a vaccine. The effectiveness of the vaccine is also a great relief, as more people can get vaccinated to get herd immunity to eventually hopefully extinguish covid as we had with polio. That being said, I don't think people should get their hopes up. Firstly, it hasn't been proven that we can attain herd immunity via vaccination. It could actually backfire if everyone thinks they have herd immunity when they really don't, and then everyone is meeting up as we had beforehand and spreading the virus way more. Another big concern I have is with long-term negative side affects of vaccination. We don't know if there are any side effects that could occur several months down the line, or even several decades. For example, the chickenpox vaccine can sometimes lead to someone getting shingles much later on in life. This isn't a major side effect, though, but it opens the door (unfortunately) to the possibility that this vaccine could cause severe side effects later on in life. The vaccine has also been pushed so hard by the Trump administration that it is possible that in their haste it could have some unsafe aspects. Personally, even if the vaccine were to come out tomorrow, I would wait a while before getting a vaccine to see if other people contract any illnesses alongside it. For people working in dangerous jobs where they risk exposure to Covid constantly, however, it may be worth it to get a vaccination. Overall, I think this brings a lot hope both towards a brighter future and towards a more stable economy.
It's great news that a vaccine is finally coming out. I think fear over potential side effects are justified yet not very reasonable. Even with the expedited research due to pressure (and increased funding from the government side) from health officials and the Trump administration, vaccines are still obviously required to go through all stages of clinical trials in addition to approval by the FDA. These testers will also be independent, separate from any political games. In addition, it seems both sides of the political aisle are questioning the safety of the vaccine, so it seems likely that any missed effects will be entirely due to pressure; however, any major side effects will probably be found by the time the first batch of vaccines are delivered to frontline workers and those at the highest risk.
The news about the vaccine is great! Especially because the initial prediction of efficacy rate was ~60%, and the reported efficacy rate for Pfizer's vaccine is projected to be ~90%. I completely agree with everyone that this is a great step forward in terms of controlling the pandemic, and I wanted to build on this with the scientific breakthroughs that this vaccine brings about. Its use of mRNA provides hope for a future in which scientists hope to utilize custom made mRNA to target other diseases. In contrast to traditional vaccines, this mRNA vaccine tricks the body into producing viral proteins. While the mRNA vaccine is quick to produce compared to a traditional vaccine, no mRNA vaccine has every been licensed for infectious disease. However, because of this vaccine— regardless of governmental approval— mRNA will bring billions of dollars to the biotech industry and drive scientists to explore further. The continued advancements in mRNA technology is extremely exciting, and many researchers are cautiously optimistic that this mRNA vaccine will gain governmental approval.
Pfizer announcing that they think they have a vaccine with an effectiveness of 90% is great news for everyone around the world. A vaccine with this level of effectiveness being made in about a year's time is incredible, and shows how much science has advanced in recent years. I personally believe that Pfizer intentionally waited until after the election to release this news, because they wanted people to vote for a president based on policy and social issues and not Coronavirus. Also, no president should be able to take the praise for a vaccine because they weren't the ones in the lab making it. I still believe we are a far ways away from having Corona Virus eradicated from our lives, as mass producing the vaccine will take a long time, and even then, there are a lot of anti-vaccers around the country who will not take it.
While an effective vaccine against Coronavirus is great news, I am nervous about how people will act because of this news. There has been a recent surge in daily COVID cases, and my fear is that when people hear about an effective vaccine or when authorities begin distributing it, people will let their guard down and feel a false sense of security regarding the virus. Doing so could have extreme implications, with people under the impression that everything is back to normal, having parties, and acting irresponsible in general. In the case of a vaccine being distributed in the near future, it is important to note that there will be a slow and tedious return to normalcy. Even if the majority of Americans take caution, I think it is inevitable that there will be people partying and celebrating far too soon.
While it is exciting to see that there is a vaccine that is currently working for covid. There is no guarantee that it is completely safe and even if it is effective there is tons of testing it must go through before it goes out to the general public. The vaccine needs to go through the FDA and saying that it may be out to the public by early 2021, is hopeful. Immediate results have come back for the vaccine, but there hasn’t been long term studies to prove that it may not harm us later on. Even with all the excitement, there is a long time before a vaccine will be deemed safe enough to go out to the public.
I am relieved to hear that scientists have already found a vaccine with this high of a success rate with covid only being officially out for around a year or so. However, the vaccine still has to be approved by the FDA which definitely takes a significant amount of time since they run multiple tests yet I think people should still be allowed to feel optimistic and happy. However, I do not want people to feel like covid is not as serious if a vaccine with this high of an efficiency rate is coming out soon. People should still wear their masks and distance themselves because most likely the people who work front line will receive them first and we will have to wait a bit longer for ours. Overall, I am happy that this is all happening and hopefully there are no long term side effects that we do not know of.
I don't think it's suspicious for the announcement to come right after Biden's victory, per se. Definitely planned, but not "sus," as the only one with any sort of financial meddling in the vaccine development was Trump, and such the only reason why an announcement after the results of the election would be suspicious is if Trump won. However I don't believe that the FDA will be quick to administer the drug - considering the supply and demand for COVID tests throughout the whole year has been tiny, I doubt much will change with the COVID vaccine. Especially since they can't force every single person to get the vaccine, the vaccine will likely have a small deficiency of effectiveness in the U.S., unfortunately due to some previous misinformation campaigns.
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